Autodesk 15606-011408-9300 Developer Guide - Page 89

Creating Report Scripts with ColdFusion A ColdFusion script, or template, is essentially a standard HTML file that includes extra tags written in a server-side markup language called CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language). CFML tags begin with the letters CF, and are used to tell ColdFusion to process either a calculation or a query. The tags can also tell ColdFusion which data source you want to use and how you want to manipulate or display the information in that data source. A template uses the file extension .cfm to identify itself and let the Web server know that it should be passed to the ColdFusion service for processing. ColdFusion was designed to provide database connectivity to your Web pages. It is a full-fledged development environment that includes functions, operators, variables, control structures, and more. You can use ColdFusion to create powerful and complex Web applications. But simple applications have their uses too, as we'll see later in this chapter. Despite its power, ColdFusion is fairly easy to learn; if you're familiar with HTML coding, you'll get up to speed quickly. The following examples show how to create report scripts with ColdFusion. We recommend that you read them in order. Note For ASP versions of the same examples, see "Creating Report Scripts with ASP" on page 109. Listing File Contents with ColdFusion This example shows a simple template that lists the contents of a map resource database. Note that this template accesses the database directly, instead of using the Autodesk MapGuide reporting feature. Later, we'll see how Autodesk MapGuide fits into the picture. Let's say you have an MWF file that points to a database containing parcel information, such as the lot number, street address, owner's name, and so on. If you want to list the contents of that database at the bottom of an HTML page displaying the map, you would first rename the HTML file with a .cfm extension and place it in a directory with script or execute permissions. Then you would add and statements to the file. The tag tells ColdFusion which database to use and which records to select from that database. You can place anywhere in the page, as long as it appears before . The tag controls how the database output will be displayed on the page. You place this tag within , at the location you want the database output to appear. The next sections describe each of these tasks in more detail. Creating Report Scripts with ColdFusion | 89